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Decrease Power Consumption

O

osrk

[H]ard|Gawd
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Joined
Jan 10, 2003
Messages
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After two months of being down I'm finally settled into my life and apartment to start folding again. Only problem is I live in a state with the second highest electricity cost in the US. I pay about 18 cents kWH, so saving electricity is key.

I'll have on machine folding with the GPU clients folding only configured with the following:
Phenom 2 720
4x GTS 250 1gig
2x 2gig DDR 3 1600
MSI 790FX-GD70
2 hard drive
1000HX Corsair PSU

All of the above consumes about 600w from the wall depending on the project. So i'm looking at a total monthly cost to run the rig at $80. Is there any secret to getting this to at or a little above 500w? How does everyone save power?
 
The only way to save power is by reducing your production. There's no way to get around that, really. You may be able to slightly reduce the voltages going to your CPU and GPUs, but you probably won't be able to maintain the same clock speeds at the same time.
 
You could run everything at stock clocks or even underclock them a bit. It is my understanding that as you overclock components that power consumption increases more rapidly than point production. You could also choose to run fewer of your video cards but I'm sure you've thought of that. It might be small but do you need both drives?
 
osrk said:
After two months of being down I'm finally settled into my life and apartment to start folding again. Only problem is I live in a state with the second highest electricity cost in the US. I pay about 18 cents kWH, so saving electricity is key.

I'll have on machine folding with the GPU clients folding only configured with the following:
Phenom 2 720
4x GTS 250 1gig
2x 2gig DDR 3 1600
MSI 790FX-GD70
2 hard drive
1000HX Corsair PSU

All of the above consumes about 600w from the wall depending on the project. So i'm looking at a total monthly cost to run the rig at $80. Is there any secret to getting this to at or a little above 500w? How does everyone save power?
Click to expand...


change all your lightbulbs in your house to compensate for the power consumption of the computer.. thats pretty much what i did in my house to compensate for the $110 a month my computers cost to run.. also if you are not using your 720 to fold on.. turn cool 'n quiet on and make sure its correctly downclocking and undervolting the processor.. should save you a bit of power..
 
You can strip down the folding rig a bit if you can do without some stuff. Remove any PCI cards that aren't critical to folding, no lights in the case if it has some, disconnect CD/media/floppy drives.

Just a thought.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
change all your lightbulbs in your house to compensate for the power consumption of the computer....
Click to expand...

What if there are 8 or more computers in your house, fold on 6 of them 24/7, and have already changed your lightbulbs? ;)
 
The only other way is to purchase better / smarter hardware in the future.

One of the reasons I went with Xeon's is their lower TDP & lower Power Consumption.

Also, using video cards on the newer 55nm vs the older 65nm comes to mind.

It is a hard line to draw between a cheap cpu now, or lower power usage in the long run.

Another suggestiong is moving up from the Standard 80+ PSU's to the newer Silver or even gold rated PSUs.

Example, if you system is pulling 500 watts from the wall, 80+ psu is wasting about 100 watts in loss, but a silver psu is only losing 60 watts ..

The savings add up over time, but costs more for the better PSU in the begining ...

Little steps add up over the long run
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
change all your lightbulbs in your house to compensate for the power consumption of the computer.. thats pretty much what i did in my house to compensate for the $110 a month my computers cost to run.. also if you are not using your 720 to fold on.. turn cool 'n quiet on and make sure its correctly downclocking and undervolting the processor.. should save you a bit of power..
Click to expand...

My lightbulbs have already been changed. It was the first thing I did when I moved in :\. Ya I was thinking about undervolting the 720 or using AMD's AOD to turn off 2 of the cores.

Wesleynator said:
You could run everything at stock clocks or even underclock them a bit. It is my understanding that as you overclock components that power consumption increases more rapidly than point production. You could also choose to run fewer of your video cards but I'm sure you've thought of that. It might be small but do you need both drives?
Click to expand...

I wasn't planning on overclocking the video cards much or at all. Unfortunately it's also acting as a file storage server, but one of the drives is a so called "green" drive.

Zero82z said:
The only way to save power is by reducing your production. There's no way to get around that, really. You may be able to slightly reduce the voltages going to your CPU and GPUs, but you probably won't be able to maintain the same clock speeds at the same time.
Click to expand...

You're probably right.

Brak710 said:
You can strip down the folding rig a bit if you can do without some stuff. Remove any PCI cards that aren't critical to folding, no lights in the case if it has some, disconnect CD/media/floppy drives.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

The 4 video cards consume all of the slots so no extras for me.


Axdrenalin said:
What if there are 8 or more computers in your house, fold on 6 of them 24/7, and have already changed your lightbulbs? ;)
Click to expand...

No lights?



I think i'm between a rock and a hard place. I am eliminating the cooling cost, i'm running this machine in my garage. The only thing I could think of is buying more efficient video cards but I believe that the 250's represent one of the highest PPD/W you can achieve. Anyone disagree?
 
EvilAlchemist said:
The only other way is to purchase better / smarter hardware in the future.

One of the reasons I went with Xeon's is their lower TDP & lower Power Consumption.

Also, using video cards on the newer 55nm vs the older 65nm comes to mind.

It is a hard line to draw between a cheap cpu now, or lower power usage in the long run.

Another suggestiong is moving up from the Standard 80+ PSU's to the newer Silver or even gold rated PSUs.

Example, if you system is pulling 500 watts from the wall, 80+ psu is wasting about 100 watts in loss, but a silver psu is only losing 60 watts ..
Click to expand...


Hmm interesting I never though about the PSU. I'll look more into it. What efficiencies do the silver and gold PSU's have?

The 250gts are based on the 55nm process and have the tweaked board design allowing them to draw less then a 9800GTX+. Can you think of a more efficient video card?
 
osrk said:
My lightbulbs have already been changed. It was the first thing I did when I moved in :\. Ya I was thinking about undervolting the 720 or using AMD's AOD to turn off 2 of the cores.



I wasn't planning on overclocking the video cards much or at all. Unfortunately it's also acting as a file storage server, but one of the drives is a so called "green" drive.

You're probably right.


The 4 video cards consume all of the slots so no extras for me.

No lights?

I think i'm between a rock and a hard place. I am eliminating the cooling cost, i'm running this machine in my garage. The only thing I could think of is buying more efficient video cards but I believe that the 250's represent one of the highest PPD/W you can achieve. Anyone disagree?
Click to expand...


if you use the cool 'n quiet.. at idle it will consume less then 45w or atleast thats what its suppose to be.. :p

in the end.. if ya want to fold.. the electricity bill is just part of the fun..not really much you can do about it but suck it up and deal with it.. or move to another apartment that has electricity included in the rent.. then you dont have to worry about it.. :p
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
if you use the cool 'n quiet.. at idle it will consume less then 45w or atleast thats what its suppose to be.. :p

in the end.. if ya want to fold.. the electricity bill is just part of the fun..not really much you can do about it but suck it up and deal with it.. or move to another apartment that has electricity included in the rent.. then you dont have to worry about it.. :p
Click to expand...

I just barely missed that kind of apartment. I ended up calling to confirm that I would accept it 10 hrs late. :\
 
osrk said:
I believe that the 250's represent one of the highest PPD/W you can achieve. Anyone disagree?
Click to expand...
Yes. GTX275s will probably give you the best PPD/W.
osrk said:
Hmm interesting I never though about the PSU. I'll look more into it. What efficiencies do the silver and gold PSU's have?
Click to expand...
Silver is 85% at 20% load, 87% at 50% load, and 85% at 100% load. Gold is 87% at 20% load, 90% at 50% load, and 87% at 100% load.
 
Solar panels? Expensive upfront, but there is a federal tax credit still i think. so that would help with the initial cost, and then you have some free electricity.
 
Zero82z said:
Silver is 85% at 20% load, 87% at 50% load, and 85% at 100% load. Gold is 87% at 20% load, 90% at 50% load, and 87% at 100% load.
Click to expand...

Exactly correct. I started moving toward silver PSUs as i upgrade systems.

Seasonic should have some gold rated ones out in a month of so.

40 watts here and 30 watts there start to add up.

I have cut my power consumption by 100 watts so far with 3 psu upgrades.

There is an up front cost involved, but since we are running F@H hardware 24/7, it comes out in the long run better to buy a higher quaility PSU for each system.
 
nitrobass24 said:
Solar panels? Expensive upfront, but there is a federal tax credit still i think. so that would help with the initial cost, and then you have some free electricity.
Click to expand...

yeah there is still a federal tax credit.. and then if you live in california.. there is also a state tax credit also.. but the california ones a pain in the ass to get because a certain percentage of your house hold must be solar power only.. my parents looked into it a while ago and changed their minds.. we currently only have 20% of the house on solar power.. so now that prices are down they may upgrade it.. but its doubtful since this house is pretty much worthless now and theres no reason to try to add any value to it..
 
I put laptop hard drives in all my computers for a little power savings and noise reduction.
 
nitrobass24 said:
This is what I have been wondering.....how do you install Windows to a usb HDD?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure, but I think there are ways to do it. You could also get an SD to IDE adapter and just use that like a standard hard drive.
 
Hmm the usb thing is a good idea. I also put pieces of paper in between the metal brackets to separate the card and get more airflow to them. More airflow= lower temps=less power consumption.
 
Shlomo said:
Doesn't work that way, unless you are talking about the power consumption of the fan cooling the card......
Click to expand...
Electronics generally produce less waste heat when running at lower temperatures, so he isn't wrong. Whether or not the difference will be significant is another thing.
 
I would +1 basically what everyone else has said:
Laptop Harddrive or USB
undervolt CPU and GPU (as power usage will go down faster than PPD)
unhook unnecessary components
Remove a fan or two if you run a lot
More efficient PSU
Stop watching TV ;)
 
Shlomo said:
Doesn't work that way, unless you are talking about the power consumption of the fan cooling the card......
Click to expand...

Both. The lower the temperature the IC there is less resistance from the conductor. My guess is on a sub molecular level the electrons are easier transferred because they have less energy, less disorder. Less electron collisions when transfering. All superconductors really only work at really cold temperatures.

This articles shows the power savings depending on temperature
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/leistungsaufnahme_graka/index13.php
 
Last edited:
Wait a min here......

if the computer takes say 500 watts. It uses 12kwh in a day. If power is $.09 a kwh then:

12x30x.09 or $32.40 to run the computer.

What are you getting charged to rack up $80 to run your system?!
 
Kendrak said:
Wait a min here......

if the computer takes say 500 watts. It uses 12kwh in a day. If power is $.09 a kwh then:

12x30x.09 or $32.40 to run the computer.

What are you getting charged to rack up $80 to run your system?!
Click to expand...

Simple. I currently pay twice the amount of money per kwh then you. My electricity is just that much better then yours. My electrons are feed an organic diet and are treated right. Maybe if you stopped taking advantage of electrons you would know the moral superiority that I feel by paying twice the amount of money for electricity. :D







Actually deregulation actually means "more profits!!!!!". My shitty state bought into what the lobbyist said and consequently electricity costs sky rocketed. I was also assuming that the system draws 600w (peak operating so far). It fluctuates though. My current rate is about 18.6 cents KwH ( I LOVE CT!!! WOOHOO). Only the small state of Hawaii pays more at about 28 cent KwH.

.6*24*30*.186KWH=80.352
 
Shit if I lived in Hawaii I might just live in a shack with no electricity. 28c per KwH!!!!! WOW WTF
 
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